A married man was travelling in an aircraft and he was wearing his wedding ring on a wrong finger and someone notice and pointed his attention, sir, you have your wedding ring on a wrong finger and the man say don't worry is because he married a wrong woman! It is not because he married a wrong woman but because he did not prepare for marriage. The marriage you did not prepare will confuse you when you get there! It is preparation that determines your experience.
People take time to prepare for everything. They take time to go to the university and study about rat and the animals but when it comes to marriage they think they do not need to do anything, all they need to do is just find a partner, match to the altar to be joined together. You don't prepare in the marriage, you prepare for marriage. You don't learn how to shoot a gun in the battlefront, you learn to shoot the gun before the battle begins. There is a difference between a wedding and a marriage. Wedding is not marriage. Wedding is an initiation into marriage. The elaborateness of a wedding has nothing to do with the success of a marriage. The success of any marriage thrive on how prepared you are before marriage. When preparation meet with opportunity it results into success. Every marriage that is succeeding today was adequately prepared for!
HOW TO PREPARE FOR MARRIAGE:
1. Acquire knowledge! Read Bible and materials that will help you know what you are getting into. It takes knowledge to dwell together. Marriage is all about meeting needs. It is not about taking advantage of one another. It is not about oppressing one another. There is a certain needs in a man's life that he cannot meet by himself, likewise the woman. So God created a marriage platform for a man to meet the woman's needs and the woman to meet the man's needs. That is what marriage is all about! The only way to understand gender difference is to access knowledge. (1 Peter 3:7). When you read you will have knowledge of the male and female gender difference to know the reason why men behave the way they do and why women behave the way they do. Women are created with verbal power, their power is in their mouth. They can talk for 24hrs. Is a virtue. God created them like that. It takes knowledge to dwell together as husband and wife. Many couples are simply living together and not dwelling together. Men are people with few words. They are logical being. They are also thinking. They believe in actions. Because he is always thinking he does not have time to talk too much. This is the reason for so many friction in marriages today. When needs are not met there is discouragement and tension. But when needs are met there is fulfillment, joy and gladness. Go for knowledge! What you do not know you will suffer for it.
2. Develop quality relationship with God. Marriage was created by God to be enjoyed and not to be endured. We should be patient and allow God teach us the principles of success in the relationship because God knows what it takes to succeed. Love is not enough.The conflicts in relationships is not the absence of Love but the lack of wisdom and understanding of the word of God concerning marriage and every other relationship. So get wisdom and with all your getting get understanding! Proverbs 2 vs 6 says, "The Lord gives wisdom and from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding" You cannot succeed in marriage without having a personal relationship with Jesus to be able to function with full capacity in satisfying each other's needs.
3. Discover God's purpose for your life. We are not a biological accident, we are here on earth for a purpose. When you don't know where you are going to anyone is free to direct you. So take time as a single to find God's purpose for your life. God has an assignment for you and it will help you in your choice of a partner.
4. Cultivate quality character! It is character that sustains beauty and destiny! It is character that sustain beauty and destiny. Without character one's beauty will turn to ugliness within a short time. It is character that will sustain your marriage. Character is like a smoke you cannot hide it, it must show up. So instead of hiding it, deal with it. Find those negative attitude in you that is capable of destroying your marriage and do something about it. The underline function of character is CONTROL. If you don't control it, it can go hire wire and run out of control that will eventually destroy your marriage. LEARN TO EXERCISE CONTROL!
5. Take care of your outward appearance! Many people have become heavenly minded that they are not aware of what is happening around them.
When a couple come together is a beginning. When they Keep staying together is progress. When they constantly Work together with a singleness of purpose is success.
